With a big vision that includes a few Aussies and a little Whistler influence, a Japanese resort could carve its line as one of the next world ski destinations

With snow gently falling in the northern, mountainous regions
of Japan, another ski season is well underway. While Nagano, having hosted the
1998 Winter Olympics, is a well-known name, Japan is rarely viewed as an
international ski destination.

But in a distant resort town across the Pacific a growing
number of Australians are slowly getting the word out and trying to change the
way skiers view Japan forever. Their efforts are partly inspired by Whistler,
and perhaps should be closely monitored by Whistler.

Japan’s second largest and most northern island, Hokkaido, is
home to a mere five per cent of the Japanese population. To most Japanese the
island is famous for its seafood, dairy products and rolling wide-open spaces.
Those who have visited in the winter, however, know that Hokkaido also offers
the best skiing in Japan. They know that the air is cooler and crisper than at
the more southern resorts and that because of this the snow is far more
abundant and consistently drier and lighter.

Hokkaido offers a wealth of ski resorts. It is home to the best
of the best and the jewel in its crown is the inter-connected ski fields that
make up the Niseko area. Being one of the largest resorts in Japan, it is
famous for its abundance of terrain. With an average 12 metres of snow
annually, containing a marginal eight per cent water content, Niseko is also
arguably home to the finest snow in Japan. Several visitors, in fact, tout the
snow to be “the world’s highest quality powder.” With fronts consistently
sweeping across the Sea of Japan from neighbouring Siberia, offering near daily
accumulations, there may be some creditability to their claims.

Offering more than 1,000 metres of powder-laden vertical
interconnected with 38 lifts over four ski areas (Higashiyama, Annupuri, Hirafu
and Hanazono) all under one pass, Niseko has all the traits to carve a line as
a world ski destination.

And since the early ’90s an increasing number of Australian
pioneers have been successfully setting up shop in Niseko. Early comers started
out in outdoor sporting businesses, such as rafting, and branched into tour
operations, acting as agents for inbound Australian tourists. The most recent
have been establishing themselves as property agents for a highly anticipated
development boom.

In 2004 things took a significant step forward when, in the
first acquisition of its kind in Japan, Australian based Harmony Resorts Niseko
Pty Ltd (HRN) established a Japanese subsidiary, Nihon Harmony Resorts KK, and
purchased the Hanazono ski area, including a golf course, from Japanese based Tokyu
group. HRN brought together several key figures in the Australian ski industry,
including a former Australian Alpine Enterprises managing director, with the
backing of a group of investors.